WATCH: Sheriff Turns Tables on Media, Gives Them Taste of Their Own Medicine

While the media and activists berate law enforcement officers for the life-or-death decisions they make every day, those officers are the ones actually on our streets making the hard decisions.

To show the media what it’s actually like to be faced with a split-second choice between life and death, a sheriff’s office in South Carolina has invited reporters to go through “force or no force” training.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Office put these reports through real-life situations faced by its deputies every day, such as traffic stops.

Each reporter made the decision whether or not to “fire” their weapon based on their own judgment and perception of the threat.

Except, if they made a wrong choice, it was just a simulation that would end eventually — for police officers on the streets of our communities, the simulation never ends. It’s a constant state of being aware and ready, at a moment’s notice, to protect yourself and the people you serve, even if that means taking someone else’s life.

In light of the riots that have been taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the Keith Scott shooting, the sheriff said he wanted to demonstrate exactly what officers face each day in hopes that at least some would appreciate their daily experience.

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It worked — at least for one reporter, Shelli Adamczyk, who said she came away from the training sessions with a deeper appreciation for what officers face while on duty.

“It is a split-second. You can say, ‘I would have done this or I would have done that,’ but until you’re in that situation, you never know,” she said, according to WACH.

A video of the simulation has gone viral with more than 7 million views in just three days.